Holland's coach believes the influx of foreign players into the Premier League and the managerial prowess of Fabio Capello make England one of the favourites for the World Cup in South Africa. Bert van Marwijk said that influences from other countries had improved the standard of the English national side, who he said were now trying to "play more football".

"It has to do with the coach and also players in England coming from the continent," Van Marwijk said as he prepared his side for tomorrow's friendly. "They play in another way – so maybe both parties learned from each, and the English are better now. Maybe in the past England played more opportune football and now you are trying to play more football. This is also to do with the coach. I saw a lot of videos of English teams and I like the way they play ."

In June, Van Marwijk's Holland side became the first European nation to qualify for next summer's World Cup finals, following a 2-1 win away to Finland.

England also have a 100% record and 21 points from seven qualifying games and are likely to secure their qualification before the end of October. Upon doing so, Van Marwijk expects Capello's side to be installed as one of the favourites for the tournament. "Every time England qualify for the World Cup they are one of the favourites. They have a lot of potential and at the moment they have a very good team," he said.

The goals of Wayne Rooney have been central to England's progress but while he recognised the threat posed by the striker, Van Marwijk revealed nothing of how he proposed to deal with the Manchester United player. "I cannot say how we will play against England, but we are aware Rooney is one of the best players for them," he said.

Securing qualification from Group Seven with two games to spare represents a fantastic start to international football for the former Feyenoord and Borussia Dortmund manager, who was announced as Marco van Basten's successor before Euro 2008. Prior to leaving for an unsuccessful stint as manager of Ajax, Van Basten led a young and exciting Dutch team through the group stages in Austria-Switzerland without defeat, before losing to an Andrei Arshavin-inspired Russia in the quarter-finals.

Van Marwijk said he was very satisfied with the players he inherited from Van Basten, who now lead Scotland by 14 points: "From the first moment I started as a coach, you saw that we were a team," he said. "That feeling is becoming stronger and stronger."

For three of Holland's stars, this match may hold more importance than a pre-season friendly. The forward Arjen Robben and midfielders Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart have all had limited playing time at Real Madrid, amid mounting transfer speculation.

Tonight's match at the Amsterdam Arena may be a chance to impress potential suitors or remind the Madrid president, Florentino Pérez, and manager, Manuel Pellegrini, of their existence. Though he admitted their lack of playing opportunities was unfortunate, Van Marwijk said he had no intention of dropping the three men. "There is very little they can do to help the situation," he said. "We have come this far together so I don't see any reason why I should drop them now."

The Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong is expected to feature on his return from suspension but injury rules out Holland's captain, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, and Bayern Munich's Mark van Bommel.

• This article was amended on Wednesday 12 August 2009. Florentino Pérez, not Ramón Calderón, is the current president of Real Madrid. This has been corrected.